Home Dialysis Central is a one-stop, online source of up-to-date, unbiased information about home dialysis—in all its forms—for people with kidney disease, their families, and the healthcare professionals who provide kidney disease care.

Who developed Home Dialysis Central?

The Medical Education Institute (MEI) conceived and developed Home Dialysis Central. MEI is a non-profit organization with the mission of helping people with chronic disease learn to manage and improve their health. You may know us through our work with the Life Options program, or on the original DOQI guidelines. We have nearly fifteen years of experience in national program management in the renal community.

MEI coordinated the research, design, development, programming, testing, maintenance, and promotion of Home Dialysis Central. Our in-depth knowledge of kidney disease, treatment options, and the patient experience makes us ideally suited to coordinate this initiative. MEI developed two other successful kidney education websites: Kidney School™, an interactive learning center that attracts more than 15,000 visitors per month, and the award-winning Life Options program, with more than 50,000 visitors per month.

Why did MEI develop Home Dialysis Central?

At MEI, we believe that home dialysis is good for patients, providers, and payers—and can even help ease the nursing shortage. Moreover, we also believe that it will take a long-term, focused effort to increase the numbers of patients who have ready access to all forms of home therapy.

Raising awareness and use of home dialysis

The website, launched in July 2004, was conceived and developed by MEI in order to:

• Increase knowledge and interest in home dialysis among patients and clinicians
• Increase the number of patients initiating home dialysis and staying on it
• Increase demand for home dialysis training programs
• Encourage home dialysis patients to advocate on behalf of home therapies

A win-win treatment option

Many people don’t know that some of the first Americans who began dialysis in the mid-1960s are still alive, more than four decades later! For these dialysis pioneers, home dialysis was the only treatment option.

Today, only a small percentage of people who begin dialysis do their treatments at home. Most people who begin dialysis in the U.S. are treated in dialysis centers, but, as the early dialysis patients have proved, home dialysis can help patients feel better, live more fully, and keep their jobs. It can also cost less, and it uses fewer nursing staff—a key benefit when severe nursing shortages are projected.

Home dialysis can be a win-win option for patients, providers, and the health care system. That’s why the Medical Education Institute created Home Dialysis Central—to help more people learn about this important choice.

Supported by donations

Funding for Home Dialysis Central comes from donations from a variety of sponsors in the renal community, including:

• Clinics and corporate providers that offer home dialysis programs
• Companies that manufacture products used in home dialysis
• Organizations that want to increase the numbers of patients who use home dialysis

Read about the ways you can support Home Dialysis Central.

Our website does not accept any form of commercial advertising.

Expert content

Home Dialysis Central content is assembled by Medical Education Institute staff and associates, with help from our sponsors. The descriptions of each type of treatment were reviewed by our nationally-renowned team of medical reviewers, who include:

• Christopher R. Blagg, MD, FRCP
  Emeritus Medical Director
  Northwest Kidney Centers
  Professor Emeritus of Medicine
  University of Washington
  Seattle, WA
• Karl Nolph, MD
  Curator’s Professor Emeritus of Medicine
  University of Missouri-Columbia
  Columbia, MO
• Robert S. Lockridge, MD
  Medical Director of Home Training
  Lynchburg Dialysis
  Lynchburg, VA
• Beth Piraino, MD
  Professor of Medicine/Assistant Dean of Admissions
  University of Pittsburgh Medical School
  Pittsburgh, PA
• Bessie Young, MD, MPH
  Clinical Assistant Professor
  University of Washington/Director, Home Dialysis Program
  Northwest Kidney Centers
  Seattle, WA

We hope you find Home Dialysis Central useful and visit often.